Page 86 of Tempting Devil
“And Liam?”
“The second I mentioned it and Liam’s face went pale, I knew Samuel was telling the truth. Knew Liam had…” I trailed off, my throat closing up over how blind I’d been. How easily I’d allowed Liam to manipulate me.
Melanie gave my hand another reassuring squeeze. It didn’t escape my notice that she didn’t seem all too surprised to learn this about Liam.
“Karma will make him pay.”
I didn’t have it in me to correct her, remind her it was Gideon — not karma —who would make him pay.
“So where does this leave the two of you?” she asked, taking a small sip of her wine. “After I hunt him down and give him a piece of my mind for lying, of course.”
Normally, I would have found some humor in her words, but right now, I couldn’t even muster a fake laugh.
“There can’t be an us. I thought there could be, but this man he’s become… He’s not the Samuel Tate I fell in love with.”
A long pause settled in her apartment as she digested my words, the only sound the distant hum of traffic from the street below. Then she turned her attention back to me, her brows furrowed and lips pursed.
“Let me see if I have this straight,” she clipped out. “You learn that Samuel Tate is alive after years of wishing he were and you’re just going to…walk away?”
“He’s not Samuel,” I insisted. “He may have the same DNA, but he’s not the same person.”
“But you knew it was him, Gin. Almost from the beginning.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” I lowered my voice. “He killed Alton. And that missing funeral director in Atlanta? He was the cleaner James conspired with to sell Samuel. Considering he went missing the same time Gideon just so happened to be in Atlanta, it’s all but a certainty he killed him, too. And I know he also plans on making sure James and Liam die, too.”
“You never would have even considered he was Sam if you didn’t see pieces of him, despite his changed appearance. Would you?”
I parted my lips to argue, but she cut me off once more.
“When you learned he’d been shot and was presumed dead, you would have given anything to have Sam back. Right?”
“You know I would have, but?—”
“Well, he’s back. He might not be the same, but either are you, Gin. You’ve changed since then, too. Everyone has. Everyone changes. That’s part of life. No one stays the same forever. Don’t throw this away because you’re stuck in the past.”
“I’m not stuck in the past.” I jumped to my feet. “If anything, he’s the one stuck in the past. He’s killing people, Melanie. How can you expect me to be okay with that?”
She met my gaze, her expression calm and measured, at odds with the turmoil swirling inside me. “There is no black and white, only varying shades of gray.”
“What does that even mean?” I placed my hands on my hips.
“It’s something my aunt sometimes says,” she explained, standing and walking toward me, running her hands down my arms. “You like to look at the world in absolutes —black and white. Good and bad. Right and wrong. But life doesn’t work that way. Some people do good things for bad reasons. And others do bad things for good reasons.”
Her words reminded me of what Gideon told me when he finally confessed his truth.
“And you think he has a good reason for this?” I shot back incredulously. “For playing God, more or less.”
“I can understand it.”
I shook my head, although I shouldn’t have been surprised by her response. After all, her argument sounded a hell of a lot like the one I’d been having with myself all week.
“He still lied to me,” I stammered out. “How can a relationship possibly work after such a huge betrayal?”
“He had his reasons for lying.”
“Yeah.” I crossed my arms in front of my chest. “To get into my pants.”
She opened and closed her mouth several times, probably trying to find the best words to tell me I was being irrational.